"I've gotten more compliments on this dress than any outfit ever." - Genie
Today is a zero day! We enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the co op in town; it's brand new and means a third food option in Independence after Subway and the French cafe (I know right?). Soon after we caught a hitch with a super cool SoCal couple whose daughter goes to college in Cleveland, and they told us she loves it so much they don't think she will ever come back (I know right?).
They dropped us at the post office where we ran into Animal Style and he updated us on all the happity haps and also taught us how to snipe a cardboard box from the drug store in order to ship home our ice axes which we used almost nil.
[Stealth camping, breakfast at co-op, Priority Box art]
Then we carted our boxes to the local hostel and waited outside while the dude at the front desk of The Hostel California (THC... I know Right?) tried to figure out if they had any open beds. Actually he called Adam in at one point at the urging of our friends to ask if he was willing to share a bed, to which he responded yes, and hostel guy proceeded to scribble a little note without any further discussion. Many of us were entertained in the lawn by the variety of notes and pictures on our resupply boxes from Margaret and Michael, which get better and better. This time we even cut out the drawings Michael made of us because we found them hilarious.
Luckily we were granted a bed: a top bunk for two, and we spent the rest of the day doing resupply and working at the library until the Slow Magic potluck that evening. Capi was the ringleader, as he was eager to make us his famous borscht, which did not disappoint. Boom made grilled cheese, Genie made "chips," Jetpack made salad, and Little Tree did up the burgers on the grill.
At dinner we had a tough discussion. The group had been separated twice, briefly, over the past week or so when some of the leading hikers made the choice to go ahead of the planned camping spot. This provoked a discussion on whether it's feasible going forward to stick together... All 11 of us. The idea of not camping together every night didn't bother anyone but we all knew the reality that some people are just faster hikers than others and if we decide to loosen the group expectations, it may mean losing the group altogether. The discussion was tearful; it felt like a big shift. Personally I wondered how this would change my experience. Being people motivated, it's the group that gets me up, pushes me to hike further, and makes me laugh at the end of the day.
Afterward, Adam and I took the hostel bikes out for a spin and really enjoyed Bishop. I guess you could say it was worth the ten miles we had to hike off the PCT and the sixty miles of hitches we had to catch.
We returned to find our crew still on the front lawn, so we joined them. Half of us were doing yoga-ish ("the praying dolphin!" "The downward cheek monkey!") when the town alarm signifying a fire to the volunteer crew sounded. As soon as we clued in to what all the fuss was about ("they should try group text"), Animal Style was off like a shot, hopping on a bike and speeding into the night like some sort of teen sleuth. We all looked at each other confused, but carried on with our lives. About thirty minutes later, Animal Style, dressed in loaner clothes - a blue Hawaiian shirt unbuttoned to his belly button, blue swim trunks, and his own sun hat and sunglasses hanging by a cord around his neck despite the fact that it was night - came out the front door of the hostel with a glass measuring cup full of coffee which he banged down in front of Goldie for his affogato ("I didn't know how much coffee you wanted for your motherf***ing thing") and rejoined us at the table. So... What happened, we asked? Animal launched into the details of the fire - the homeowners weren't home but luckily the neighbors noticed right away, etc. how do you know all this, we asked? He replied simply that he had gone to the fire and asked. And now I ask you, dear reader, how can I possibly hike the PCT without Animal?
The next morning we all convened at the local bakery which is really a fantastical gluten operation; if there's a wheat product you like, Schats has it tenfold, and man was it packed! We all ate our donuts, pastries, and breakfast sandwiches with a somewhat morose air - and being sad while eating a donut is straight up depressing. We were sad because everyone was planning to hike out today except Spear - she had a post office errand that had to wait until tomorrow (Monday), and for those of us heading out today, there was no plan to camp together. So we ate and split, and on our way back to the hostel, Boom and I realized we were still exhausted from a pretty epic week: Whitney, Forester, and Kearsarge. He called a couple hotels and booked us a room for that night. We asked Genie if she would also like to postpone hiking out and she agreed. We texted the group, and Jetpack said "well twist my arm!" and before we knew it everyone decided to stay another night.
And then the Cavs won and Adam experienced nirvana... So much so that the front desk of the motel called to ask us to please pipe down, but it was too late - Boom was already running and hollering around the parking lot.
